*** "ISLAMABAD IS LIKE a New York cemetery: half
the size, but twice as dead."

(Remark attributed to un-named American Ambassador by
US writer Mary Anne Weaver in her recently published book)

*** "THIS IS HOW I PROTECT MYSELF."

(US writer Mary Anne Weaver describing how President
Musharraf pulled a silver-plated pistol from his breast pocket at an
elegant dinner party while replying to a question posed by a female
guest what he was doing about lawlessness in Karachi. The incident
included in her recently published book)

*** "40 million; 6 million; 80 million"

(Number of people living below the poverty line,
number of children not getting primary education, and people deprived of
education respectively in Pakistan according to the Human Condition
Report 2002 launched by the Planning Commission last week)

*** "Pound Sterling 500"

(Fine awarded to Queen Elizabeth's only daughter,
Princess Anne, after she pleaded guilty to let her dog maul two
children. She became the first British royal convicted of a criminal
offence in 350 years since Charles I was beheaded in 1649)

*** "... does not only threaten the independence
of the political will of the countries in the region, but also
jeopardises its existence. It pushes the whole area into a state of
chaos and deterioration that paves the way for foreign
interference..."

(Fifteen-page statement signed by 209 intellectuals
and scholars from various Arab and Muslim countries warning their
governments that any backing to the US against its possible attack on
Iraq would have serious consequences on the region)

*** "WHAT A MORON."

(Comment referring to US President George W. Bush
attributed to a senior Canadian official at the NATO summit in Prague)

*** "HE IS not a moron at all."

(Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien's damage
control after his top official called US President George W. Bush a
moron)

*** "1,700 per cent"

(Increase in hate crimes against Arabs and Muslims in
the US during last year according to a report released by Human Rights
Watch)

*** "THE PROBLEM is getting serious... The
abused men need help and support to restore their battered
confidence."

*** "YOU NEED to make sure your rhetoric isn't
quite as harsh about killing them. I didn't like the, 'Get them dead or
alive'. It just didn't sound that appealing to me, really."

(US journalist Bob Woodward quoting First Lady Laura
Bush's disagreeing with her husband about his remarks on Iraq. The
excerpt is part of a wide-ranging interview in Woodward's 'Bush at War',
a book studying the year after 11.9)

*** "McDonald's has the information that a child
consuming this food more than one time a week may result in a child
developing juvenile diabetes."

(Lawyer of one of the nine children suing burger
giant McDonald's in New York claiming that addiction to its food led to
obesity)

*** "150"

(Number of ordinances issued by Punjab law department
in last three years)

*** "NATO IS WORSE than the Gestapo. The blood
of all children is on you."

(Slogans shouted by two Russian-speaking protestors
who pelted stones at Nato chief George Robertson at the organisation's
Alliance summit in Prague)

*** "THIS SO-CALLED beauty contest is just a
part of the whole beauty fascism... These girls will be wearing swimwear
dripping with blood."

(Muslim leaders and a British writer commenting on
the shifting of Miss World pageant to London from Nigeria following
riots that left over 200 dead)